Murphy Students Participate in 14th Annual Cancer Walk

William F. Murphy Elementary School students lapped the building Friday to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Every student at William F. Murphy Elementary School lapped the building Friday for an hour (or 30 minutes for the younger ones) to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  Murphy School's Annual Cancer Walk began in 1999, after school psychologist Judy Davids lost her battle with breast cancer.  Davids is remembered as "a professional who cared about others and about doing her very best for children," "an inspiration to her colleagues," "always an advocate for children and families," "a consummate collaborator."  In a 1998 newsletter of "School Psychology in Illinois," a District 68 administrator wrote: "We have a better school district as a result of her dedication and leadership."  Since then, students have raised money through …

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Edgewood and Murphy Elementary Schools Make Illinois Honor Roll

Both schools were recognized for high academic performance. Murphy also was recognized as a high-poverty school closing the achievement gap.

Two Woodridge School District 68 elementary schools have been recognized as part of the Illinois Honor Roll.  The Illinois Honor Roll consists of three separate recognitions: Spotlight Schools, Academic Improvement Awards and Academic Excellence Awards.  Both Edgewood Elementary School and William F. Murphy Elementary School were given 2011 Academic Excellence Awards. In total, 438 Illinois schools were given this distinction, which recognizes "very high academic performance over at least three years." Three hundred and sixty-six schools were elementary or K-8 schools.  At least 90 percent of students had to meet or exceed state standards in both reading and mathematics for at least three consecutive years to receive the recognition. All …

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Justin Bieber's Family House and More in D68 Kids' Artwork

Artwork from Edgewood Elementary School and William F. Murphy Elementary School is on display at the Woodridge Public Library this month.

Artwork from Woodridge School District 68 students is on display at the Woodridge Public Library.  Drawings and mixed media pieces from students at Edgewood Elementary School and William F. Murphy Elementary School are up in the childrens' department.  We highlighted some of the pieces for their talent and captions. 

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Arson Behind Murphy Elementary School

Someone lit a dumpster on fire behind the school on Nov. 19.

Someone lit a dumpster on fire at William F. Murphy Elementary School, according to Woodridge police reports. The incident was discovered around 7:45 p.m. on Nov. 19. William F. Murphy Elementary School is located at 7700 Larchwood Ln. No charges have been made in the incident.  

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Murphy Celebrates Reading 10,062 Books

William F. Murphy Elementary School held its final reading assembly of the year to honor the reading achievements of its students.

If you want to get a sense of how many books the students of William F. Murphy Elementary School read this school year, just look at the ceiling.  Two volunteers, Lynn Tomim and LuAnn Farr, taped slips of colored paper to the ceiling of Murphy's hallways. Each classroom had a different color. There are now slips representing the 10,062 books the students read during the 2010-2011 school year.  That's 20 percent of the 50,218 books Woodridge read during the school year.  Murphy held an assembly Wednesday to celebrate that achievement and to feature its million-word readers.  Ten students read more than 1 million words: Carson Aldrich, Frank Campbell, Ryan Cheevers, Faith Ley, Gionna Shaffer, O'Shay Jackson, Iris Ugalde-Lopez, Anthony …

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William F. Murphy School Choir Performs Holiday Concert at Area Nursing Homes

The school's fifth and sixth-grade performance choir stopped by three nursing homes Wednesday.

Twenty-six members of the William F. Murphy Elementary School fifth and sixth-grade performance choir travelled to two area nursing homes Wednesday to perform a holiday concert. The choir meets once a week for rehearsal and is under the direction of Murphy Music Teacher Dianne Sabovik. Sabovik organized a similar trip while she was a teacher at Goodrich Elementary School and started the trip at Murphy when she started working at the school three years ago. The students first performed at the Sunrise Retirement Home in Willowbrook and then traveled to the Fairview Center for Health and Wellness and the Fairview Village Retirement Apartments in Downers Grove. The Murphy School PTO paid for the bus. Students had a chance with talk with …

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It's the Holiday Season

Snowmen Do the Hula and Reindeer Have Day Jobs in Murphy School Musical

The school’s third and fourth-grade students put on two performances of the holiday show Thursday.

Mrs. Santa Claus let her hair down, Prancer announced she's a dance instructor during the year and the snowmen day-dreamed about living in Hawaii. Sound unconventional? Maybe. But those scenarios were all part of "North Pole Exposure," the holiday musical the third- and fourth-grade students at William F. Murphy Elementary School performed Thursday. The musical was written by John Jacobson and Mac Huff. The students performed "North Pole Exposure" twice, once for a school assembly and again for friends and family Thursday night. Dianne Sabovik, the music teacher at Murphy, said the students have been rehearsing for the musical for almost three months. Sabovik said she chose the music because it included a variety of musical styles, from …

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Melissa Sersland

2:04 am on Saturday, December 4, 2010

I thought they were wonderful! I really enjoyed the performance. I thought that the background looked pretty impressive, too!   more ›

Week in Review: It's Elementary, My Dear!

Check out some great stories with elementary school students that were posted on Woodridge Patch this week.

Photo gallery and article on William F. Murphy Elementary's Family Reading Night Thursday: Murphy Elementary School's Family Reading Night Includes a Lady Gaga Song, Leaf Man Students and volunteers enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal at the Woodridge Community Resource Center: Woodridge Community Resource Center Shares Annual Thanksgiving Meal Goodrich Elementary School student council officers pack up food collected over the past two weeks to be donated to area food pantry: Goodrich Collects Food, "Stuffs the Turkey" Preschoolers Share What They're Thankful For Meadowview Elementary School students and teachers perform Reader's Theater: Meadowview School Students Show Off Their Reading and Acting Chops

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